VICENTE
J. FRANCISCO (1891 – 1974)
One
of the brightest stars in the legal firmament, Vicente J. Francisco was born on
July 19, 1891, in the old town of Cavite (now Cavite City), the son of Bibiano
Francisco and Josefa Santos. He obtained his early education in his native
town, after which he pursued his higher studies in Manila, obtaining in 1914 an
L.L.B. degree from the Escuela de Derecho (School of Law), the first law
college in the Philippines founded by another distinguished Caviteño, Felipe
Calderon author of the Malolos Constitution. Pathetically, Francisco, already
an eminent criminal lawyer, founded his own law school, the Francisco Law
College.
After
his graduation from the Escuela De Derecho, Francisco went to the United States
and took special courses in Mercantile Law, Procedure, and Evidence at Columbia
University in New York City. He returned to the Philippines and soon became an
outstanding law practitioner. In recognition of his legal talent he was
appointed dean of the college of law, University of Manila. Later he was
elected president of the Lawyers’ League of the Philippine Islands.
Note
that the country was then officially known as “Philippine Islands” a literal
translation of the term las Islas Filipinas by which the country was known
throughout the Spanish regime. It was by virtue of the charter approved by the
1934 – 1935 Constitutional Convention that
the country would henceforth be officially known as the Philippines.
Having
resided and practised law in Manila throughout his mature life, Francisco,
though a native Caviteño, had to take temporary residence in Cavite for a few
months to be able to run and get elected s delegate to the Constitutional
Convention. In the convention he was elected chairman of the committee on
judicial power, and member of the sponsorship committee, committee on
constitutional guarantees, and committee on credentials.
Although
he admitted that the 1935 Constitution was one of the best charters ever written,
he believed that “a good government depends more upon the capacity and
integrity of its officials than on the excellence of its constitutions and
laws.”
Francisco
was also author of many law books. He was married to Manila Jalbuena who died
in the early thirties. He passed away on May 7, 1974, at the age 83.
(Sources: (1) Gregorio
F. Zaide, great Filipinos in History. Manila, 1970; and (2) F.G. Bustos
and A.J. Fajardo, New Philippines Manila, Carmelo & Bauermann, Inc.,
1934.)